Method of extracting turpentine and other products from wood.



PATENTED APR. 30, 1907.

' M. MQKBNZI'B. 7 METHOD OF BXTRAOTING TURPBNTINE AND OTHER PRODUCTS FROM WOOD.

APPLICATION FILED APR.21,1906.

Jkwemtoz alibi-me 1 4/ #4 i I MALCOLM MCKENZIE, OF PLAINFIELD, NET/V JERSEY.

METHOD OF EXTRACTING TURPENTINE AND OTHER PRODUCTS FROM WOOD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 30, 1907.

To It LII/(0H2, may concern.-

Be it known that l, MALCOLM MoKuxzin,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Plainiield, in the State ol New Jersey, 1

and the vessel a, which pipe passes through have invented ccrtuin new and usciulimprove-meets in iiietuods of Extracting Turpentine and other Products from \food, of which the following: is the SPCCiiiCltiiO'li, reference. being had to the accompanying drawing, forming; a

'zi't hcreol The invention relutrs to the extinction of i l turpentine and other products lrom wood by subjecting some to the action of a bath of rosin or similar substance heated to a relatively high degree of temperature.

lieretoforc it has bben customary to assist the separation of the turpentine from the bath by introducing steam directly into the vessel or retort in which the wood was being treated and then collecting and condensing the-escaping volatile product or products. It has been found impossible, however, by this method, to extract the maximum quantity of turpentine or other roducts from the wood or to separate same cm the bath, and the process is also objectionable as it may injure the fiber of the wood.

The ob jcct of this invention is to provide amethod whereby not only the maximum amount of turpentine and other products may be extracted from the wood, but whereby a larger amount of-tur entine may be separated from the bath ELHC recovered, and

' whereby the wood may be treated without injuring its fiber or texture or impairing its use as lumber after it has been treated.

The accompanying drawing, which is partly inelcvation and partly in section, discloses one form of apparatus for practicing the method.

As such apparatus is claimed in my copending application, Serial No. 293,920 for Letters Patent covering such apparatus no description thereof is necessary further than to illustrate properly the operation of the present method.

' In the accompanying drawin'g a represents a vessel provided with suitable doors b and b to permit it to be opened for the purpose of charging and discharging the wood and preferably provided with a fire hox d to assist in bringing the bath to the desired temperature. A second vessel c independent of the vessel a is provided with the usual dome e and wormf of an ordinary still. This vessel may'also'be provided wit r set forth andspectively, such extensions being with cocks g and g respective y. The

a fire box (1 to aid in heating the rosin )rior to beginning the circulation thereof. (Bommunication is established through a pipe g between the lower portion of the vessel 0 a suitable heater i by which the both can be reheated and brought to the desired temperature as it )asses from the vessel 0 to the vessel (L. T 1e pump 72 is connected. with the pipe so.thut the, circulation be" .tween the two vessels may be maintained.

Branches g and 9 provided with cocks g g and communicate respectively at the top and bottom of thetank or vessel (L with ert'orated distributing pipes It and 71*. The )l'itllGllOS 7 and g are likewise connected with the vessel 0 by extensions 9 and g rerovided provision of the branches 9 and g of the pipe g, their extensions 9 and g and the several cocks referred to, are for the purpose,'as will be readily understood, of permitting the direction of movcmcnt'oi the bath through the vessel It to be reversed.

The vessel 0 is )rovided in its lower or tion with a perforate distributing pipe Z t 'ough which a suitable substance )refcrably steam can be'admitted to the bath as it lies in the vessel 0 for the purpose of facilitating the separation of the turpentine or other products.

In the practice of the methodns embodied in the apparatus shown in the drawing, the

closed vessel a is partly filled with wood, suitably divided to permit the permeation of the bath throughout the mass and the vessel a is then completely filled with rosin, or similar substance, at a temperature varying approximately from 340 F. to 380 F. usually nearer 380 1*. .After the wood has been subjected to the action of this bath for a suitable length of time the bath or a portion of the bath is removed to the vessel 0 bymeans of the pump and the pi es going from the vessel a to the vessel 0, w iere it is agitated and cooled by some suitable means as steam or other gaseons fluid. If the cocks g g g are opened and the other cocks are closed, the heated rosin will leave the tank 0 through the pipe g and enter the vesselc through the pipe lc and will be returned to the vessel 0 through thedistributing pipe g while if the cocks g g and bcopcned and the other cocks closed the resin will leave the tank c through the pipe 9 and enter the tank a through the distributing pipe is and will bereturned tothe vessel 0 through the the branch 9".

As the rosin is pumped from the tankfc where it has been agitated and cooled it may be forced througl'i the heater i, so that the temperature of ilm-1i? portion of the bath which has been in t le vessel 0 is restored to the redetermined temperature of the bath in the yessel a prior to entering the same.

distributing pipe 7c and Cones uentl the temperature of the bath in the vessel a nny be maintained at an even temperature. This is important, because if the temperature of the material forming the bath is allowed to even a few degrees Vilblil th vessel a it may have a very deleterious eil'ect upon the wood being treated, since the high temperature at which the bath is maintained renders the wood peculiarly susceptible to changes in temperature and only a slight variation is often sullicicnt to injure andin some cases to destroy the texture an qualit of the wood and render it unavailable for further use. Furthermore, changes in temperature causes the wood to alternately expand and'contract which interteres' with the extraction of the turpentine and other products contained in the wood and such changes in temperature, if considentit will not only interfere with, but will sometimes i :vcnt any further extraction from thewood whatsoever. It isalso possible to maintain the temperature within the vessel a at a higher point than would be possible were steam or other substance admitted directlyinto the vessel o which higher temperature in many cases increases the extraction' of desirable products from the wood. The steam or other cooling substance which is supplied to the bottom of the vessel 0 through the pipe 1, not only causes a violent agitation of the portion of the bath contained therein, but also causes a reduction in the temperature thereof, such reduction often amounting to as much as 30 or 40 degrees. This agitation of the bath together with the considerable reduction in temperature causes the volatile products contained in the rosin to be given of, which are then collected and condensed in the usual well known manner. A portion of the bath is thus constantly renewed or rejuvenated so to speak, by having the volatile products removed therefrom which. renders it more active in extracting further products from the wood and the same bath thus used over and over again -,ai1d the process is continuous.

Although it is old in the art to use. steam for agitating a bath, yet, so far as I am aware, I am the first to discover a process providing for the cooling of a portion of the bath and also providing for the maintaining 0 that portion of the bath in immediate con- 3 ct with the wood at an even temperature,

cancer thereby extracting the greatest ossible quantity of volatile'products from t e bathand fromthswood and at the same time protecting thef wood from injury due to variations in temperature. I am also the first, so far as I am aware to provide a method whereby the temperature of the bath may be con- .tinuouslymaintained at or almost at the critical or destructive temperature of the substance constituting the bath.

It is evident that various substances, other than rosin, may be used as the material of the bath such as various oils and hydrocarbons, and I. do not intend to' limit my process solely to the use ofrosin as the material of the bath, but i have mentioned only rosin because it is evident, that whatever other substance is used as a bath; the con stant exudation of rosin from the wood,will speedily convert the bath originally used into a ros n bath. i

I claim as my invention 1. The method of treating wood which consists in subjecting the wood to the action of a bath in a suitable closed vessel, removing the bath and the extracted products to a separate vessel and agitating and reducing the temperature of the same to remove the. extracted products by injecting a gaseous fluid, then reheating the bath to its former temperature and returning the same. to the vessel containing the Wood.

The herein described method of treating wood which consists in subjecting the VVQOll to the action of a suitable bath, removing portions of the bath and the extracted roducts, reducing the temperature of suc removed portions to extract the desired products unchanged and then returning the same to the bath.

' 3. The method of treating wood which consists in subjecting the wood to the action ofa bath, continuously removing a portion of the bath and the products.contained therein, agitating and cooling such removed portions so as to extract the desired rod ucts unchanged and then returning said portion to the original bath.

4. The method of treating wood which consists in subjecting the wood to the action of the bath, continuously removing a portion of thebath anz-L the contained products, agitating and cooling such removed portion by steam to extract the desired products, then reheating such removed portion of the bath to its original temperature and returning the same to the bath. r

This specification signed and witnessed this 30th day of March, A. D. 1906.

MALCOLM MoK-ENZIE.

- Signed in the presence of THOMAS J. CANTY, LUCIUS E. VARNEY. 

